New talents and future stars of Formula E took to the track at Berlin Airport to showcase their skills, with the aim of reaching the top of the successful electric single-seater series.
FIA Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich set the fastest time in the Berlin rookie test, just two tenths of a second off the best time set in practice by Maximilian Günther at the SABIC Berlin E-Prix 2023 double race weekend in the same car.
The new GEN3 race car already achieved the fastest lap in Formula E history earlier this season, while the Berlin crowd over the weekend witnessed more records broken with a total of 362 overtakes in 83 race laps.
This week it was the turn of 23 Formula E rookies, none with racing experience in the series, to put the GEN3 to the test on the Berlin Tempelhof circuit. They took the opportunity to show what the next generation of drivers is capable of in the fastest, lightest, most powerful and efficient electric racing car ever built.
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Pure Speed
Brazilian Drugovich set the standard with a lap of 1.05.509 towards the end of the second session of the day. Remarkably, the rookies did not have to take power management into account, allowing them to push their driving abilities to the absolute limit.
Reigning DTM champion and sportscar driver Sheldon van der Linde took first place in the race with a 300kW powered lap, not the full 350kW of power that was available.
Luca Ghiotto (Nissan Formula E Team) finished second, just 0.073 seconds back. The former FIA Formula 2 driver’s best lap in the morning session was set in 350kW mode, as was Mahindra Racing test and reserve driver Jehan Daruvala in third and former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat in fourth.
Reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Victor Martins fared better in the Nissan: he finished eighth, less than half a second off Sheldon van der Linde’s benchmark.
The afternoon race proved quicker than the morning race with Felipe Drugovich, Nissan’s Victor Martins and Luca Ghiotto, and Zane Maloney (Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team) all within Sheldon van der Linde‘s time from the opening session.
Van der Linde was unable to replicate his earlier pace and ended his second session early after an incident in which the aircraft spun and lost the right front corner and front wing of his Jaguar I-PACE 6.
Meanwhile, former F2 driver Ghiotto added the fourth fastest time of the afternoon to the second fastest time he sealed in the morning race, while Scuderia Ferrari reserve driver Robert Schwarzman and Mahindra Racing reserve Jehan Daruvala completed the top six.
